“…the Church exists not for itself and not for its members but as a sign and agent and foretaste of the kingdom of God, and it is impossible to give faithful witness to the gospel while being indifferent to the situation of the hungry, the sick, the victims of human inhumanity.”
― Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society
My Story
My mom grew up in Phenix City, AL. A small town on the state line between Georgia and Alabama. She grew up with two brothers. My grandparents believed in Jesus and were trying to follow Him the best way they knew how. For a long time, they had worship in their house each Sunday along with another family. They were doing small groups before we knew what small groups were. They would eventually join a local church in town. I still have memories from when I was a kid of going to that small church.
My dad was born in Jonesboro, AR but grew up around Memphis, TN. My grandmother was the church secretary for the Raliegh Church of Christ for as long as I can remember. My grandfather was a deacon for that same church. It was a Wednesday night when my dad was in high school that he walked down the aisle of that church to tell the church that he had decided to become a preacher.
After college, my dad started preaching in small towns in Alabama and Georgia. It was during that time that he met my mom. They got married. And soon after me and my sister were born.
My dad continued to preach but it wasn’t long before he decided to do something different. He decided to start teaching at the Christian school in Montgomery, AL. He became the Bible teacher and the chorus director for the High School. My sister and I went to that school, Alabama Christian Academy, k-12. And during that time, our family was deeply involved in our church.
Every time the doors were open we were there. My mom taught the kid’s classes. My dad was a deacon in the church and he taught an adult Bible class every week in the auditorium. They served that church faithfully and gave to that church sacrificially.
Today, my mom is still teaching kid classes and serving as a Children’s Minister for that church. My dad still teaches the adult Bible class in the auditorium and serves as an elder for that church.
There’s a story and a rich history in my family that revolves around serving others with open hearts, giving to the church with open hands, all because they believed they were a part of something bigger. And it always started with love.
Our Story
I tell you all that to say this… I have a story. And YOU have a story.
Stories are important. As you look to the past and remember what God has done in writing our story, I think it gives us great confidence as we look to the future and the chapters yet to be written!
But our stories aren’t just our stories… they’re God’s stories.
And our stories begin with love.
Perhaps no one understood the love of God better than the Apostle John. John was known as the beloved disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. It was John who leaned back against Jesus at the Last Supper. It was John who Jesus looked too as he was dying on the cross, and he asked his friend John to take care of Mary, his mother. And it was John who was the only disciple of Jesus to not die a martyr’s death. He was the only one who lived to be an old man.
And in his old age, he wrote a letter addressed to churches everywhere to tell them what it means for them to be followers of Jesus.
Today, I just want to share one thing that John said some 2000 years ago that I believe changes everything for us.
John wrote,
“God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”
— 1 John 4.9-10
According to John, this is REAL LOVE.
It’s not that we have loved God. And it’s not just that God has said He loves us. It’s this… God demonstrated his love for us, declared his love for us, by sending his son Jesus from Heaven to Earth, to dwell among us, to show us what God looks like, to show us what love looks like. And Jesus showed us what love looks like, what real love looks like, when he opened his heart and opened his hands on the cross for you, for me, for the world.
It’s at the cross that we see what real love looks like. It’s at the cross that Jesus opened His heart and opened His hands and gave us a picture of what sacrificial love looks like.
Real love is sacrificial love.
And this love changes lives.
How will you respond?
The question for you today, for those of us who are believers in this great message and bearers of this good news, is simply this: How will you respond?
How will you respond to the great love of God? Are you content to keep doing what you’re doing? Or… would you dare to dream to open your heart and open your hands in sacrificial love so that God might demonstrate His love through you to others?
Here’s what I believe. I believe that God has uniquely positioned you for such a time as this to share the love of Jesus with others. And I believe that if you can leverage this moment for the Kingdom of God and steward your story well, God can do in you and through you immeasurably more than you could ever ask or imagine.
But it all begins with love.
“…the Church exists not for itself and not for its members but as a sign and agent and foretaste of the kingdom of God, and it is impossible to give faithful witness to the gospel while being indifferent to the situation of…” others. ― Lesslie Newbigin
What if?
So, what if? What if you were free to do more for the Kingdom of God?
What if you decided to open your heart and open your hands be a part of something special for God?
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”
— Ephesians 3.20-21
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